Namibia: Civil society actors
Extracted from: Lesley Blaauw & Sydney Letsholo 2009 "Chapter 10: Namibia" IN Denis Kadima and Susan Booysen (eds) Compendium of Elections in Southern Africa 1989-2009: 20 Years of Multiparty Democracy, EISA, Johannesburg, 356-358.
Namibia is a vibrant democracy where a host of CSOs, political parties, donor agencies and NGOs are active. In Namibia, CSOs are classified according to the following categories: voluntary organisations, trusts, Section 21 companies and welfare organisations. Prior to independence the objectives of most civil society groups were mostly bound together with the aims of the liberation struggle (Hopwood 2008). As is the case with CSOs whose work is overtly political, it was always going to be extremely difficult to adapt to new conditions post-independence. Several of the organisations linked to the liberation struggle wrestled with issues of autonomy, sustainability, and allegiance (Hopwood 2008). There were also new issues and challenges that CSOs had to grapple with. Among these were HIV/Aids, labour issues, housing research and small and medium enterprises (SME) development. The Ministry of Trade and Industry is tasked with registering companies and organisations concerned.
The Legal Assistance Centre (LAC) has been involved in law reform, particularly as regards gender, and provides input to legislation that focuses on gender issues but also has a related strong slant towards democracy building (Lebeau & ; Dima 2005). This is especially commendable given that the electorate has been empowered to make best electoral choices. Some of the activities of the LAC are to address human rights issues. The Namibia Institute for Democracy (NID) also assists in voter education initiatives through schools, radio programmes and local newspapers. As is the case with the LAC, the NID plays a crucial role in the electoral process. Foremost amongst its objectives is the education of voters.
In order to support the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) in facilitating free and fair elections in 2009, with results accepted by all participating parties, independent stakeholders such as civil society and the media will need to play an enhanced role during the pre-election and election period by engaging in observation of all aspects of the electoral process. The Namibia Institute for Democracy (NID) has, therefore, initiated a programme to develop a broad-based, strong, long-term domestic elections observation capacity in Namibian civil society and the media to ensure a transparent, fair, lawful, and balanced election process. A training manual was developed to train elections observers from civil society who will subsequently be engaged in examining electoral legislation and regulations, inspecting the voters' roll, observing the registration and conduct of political parties and candidates, and observing the selection of electoral officials and the training of poll volunteers. Stakeholders will be engaged early on and remain engaged during the entire electoral process leading up to the elections and beyond.
Founded in 1989, the National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) is a non-partisan human rights monitoring and advocacy organisation that promotes a world free of human rights violations. Some of the NSHR objectives are to promote accountability, accessibility and transparency in public administration, and to promote representative and decentralised political power based on active and full public participation (Lebeau & ; Dima 2005). The vibrant nature of Namibia's social system has given room to other NGOs that prioritise and promote women's greater participation in power sharing and general involvement democracy and electoral processes. Among the organisations that have mushroomed is the Women's Action for Development (WAD), which has committees at the local and national level. WAD has a community outreach programme and is involved in identifying potential women political candidates.
References
HOPWOOD, G 2008 Guide to Namibian Politics, Windhoek, Namibian Institute for Democracy.
LEBEAU, D & ; DIMA, E 2005 Multiparty Democracy and Elecions in Namibia [PDF document], EISA Research Report No 13.
